11.28.2011

1. Tonight I got Jo OUT of bed because "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was on TV. It seemed like a good idea, and it was. She was thrilled. She kept saying, "he not a very nice guy." Then she asked where baby Jesus was.2. I just opened a bag of dark chocolate peanut m&m's and I have bad intentions.3. Our new nanny started today, so far so good. She's into crafting- her & Jo made an advent count down construction paper chain. Mostly I think she made it, but she said Jo was into the glue stick portion of the craft.4. I got my tires rotated today at lesschwab & then an oil change, which is more TLC than the car has seen since it rolled off the lot. My dog is jealous of my car. My husband is jealous of the dog.5. I put Baylor down for two naps today via this incredibly complicated routine: I layed him down. That was it. Boom. Parenting expert. Let me know if you need any parenting advice. (Please don't remind me of this post when I realize he will never go to sleep this easily ever again).6. Yesterday morning there was a blue stock pot (like the speckled blue kind you use for camping) and lid on my doorstep. I opened it cautiously, quite certain I'd find a severed head or a king cobra. It was empty. I don't know who put it there, so I put it in my shed which is where all things ranging from useless (a broken tomato cage) to precious (previously mentioned dark chocolate m&m stockpile) end up. We clean out the shed 2 times every year- always vowing to really keep it organized from now on.7. My son likes to socialize with one of our couch pillows. He laughs and smiles at it. I keep trying to get it on video. I am choosing not to read too much into this. With limited license my mind has still come to the following conclusions: a) he's destined to be a couch potato b)he'll befriend couch pillows over other children c)he thinks the pillow is his mom d) he likes the couch more than me.8. As a combined result of old age + living in milwaukie, I am becoming increasingly desensitized to hideously overdone Christmas light displays. My neighbor "Terry" has had his lights up since before Halloween. Some guy down the street has $3/foot color changing "lightshow" Christmas lights. I know the cost and name because I was jealous and googled it. Color changing "lightshow" lights are pretty obnoxious...and I want them.9. I succumbed to a $13 fiber optic fake mini-tree from Walmart. I love the color changing magic and for $13 I couldn't push my cart past it. When I got home and unpacked it before unloading my kids from the car (just teasing) Luke said, "I like where your head's at." He thought this was "the" tree for the year. He was sorely mistaken and quickly corrected. It is a bonus tree. The big tree is still to come.

11.27.2011

This morning my alarm went off & I carefully removed myself from a tangle of limbs- Jo & Baylor both ended up in bed with us in the last 6 hours. Baylor is usually fitful this time of day, but he had his arms thrown up above his head and was snuffling peacefully asleep. Jo had her head curled in by her daddy and her booty up in the air. Luke was on his back as usual. They were all so happy looking. I wanted a picture but not enough to risk waking Baylor with a flash. As my mother in law says anytime we're too lazy to go find a camera to capture a moment: Memory Picture!

11.17.2011

1. Today I asked Jo if she wanted to pray for anything and she said, "Dear God, thank you for Jesus. He is a good man." Out of the mouths of babes.2. I am glad for point #1 above, because I am attempting to untangle the following theological elements in the mind of my 2 year old:a) Jesus' birth & Christmasb) Santa Claus & Christmasc) The Elf on the Shelfd) Veggie Tales, including the Veggie Tales nativity set in which baby Jesus is represented by a small cucumber.e) Baby Jesus vs Grown up Jesusf) Disney Princesses vs Barbies, and Jesus. She told Princess Ariel and Snow White the other day that Cinderella was Jesus. Hopefully God's got a sense of humor.3. Luke was in a good mood the other morning, and I was not. He felt especially chatty about something I didn't feel like talking about (something really dumb- like what we were having for dinner or something) and I had not had my coffee yet. I told him, "Talking more is not helping this conversation."4. Jo tebowed today in her Denver Broncos cheer costume (Thanks Aunt Laurie!) and 'parkle shoes (of course). Her daddy is so proud. GO BRONCOS!

11.13.2011

One of my favorite "Jack" stories is from when he was in sixth grade, away at outdoor school. Mom & Dad received one brief letter from him. In his crooked, sprawling scrawl, this is what it said:

Dear Mom and Dad,Outdoor school is da bom.Love,Jack

Da bom. I may need to do a post on Jack stories. There are lots of them.

Last week I took Jo to the elementary school playground. The after-school kids were on recess so Jo stood back and watched for a while before climbing on the equipment. There was a wild pack of girls running rampant through the playground. Jo ran with them on the fringes, laughing and squealing with all the joy of a lone wolf newly accepted into the pack. She was especially impressed with one gals 'parkle shoes.

While kicking it with first graders, here's what I had the pleasure of overhearing:

One girl to me:girl: "Can I show you something?"me: "Sure."girl, showing me a piece of plastic jewelry she found, "finders keepers!"me: "Oooh, that's neat."girl, pointing at her eyes: "yeah, I found it cuz I have GREAT eyesight!"girl, pointing to where no cat is: "like, I can see that cat over there."

11.05.2011

Remind me next year that MAKING a costume is NOT better than buying one. Again my daughter was subjected to a messy tangle of tulle and sparkles, which ended up being more expensive than an overpriced target costume. Baylor was a lobster & Jo was a 'parkle princess with 'parkly dress and 'parkle shoes. After one house the "trick or treat" concept sunk in & she was off & running! For Jack & Patty's halloween party, Luke & Baylor were carpet cleaners & I was a dirty rug. Very clever. Mostly crafted around the fact that luke generally refuses to dress up for this sort of thing.Carpet cleaners typically wear pants. If they show up without pants and they're older than this guy, close the door and LOCK it.The whole gang- There were some awesome costumes- I think my favorite was Chris in the back- a 6'3 GIANT chicken. The costume was a little short for him. There were some unnecessary chicken thigh sightings.

11.02.2011

Jo has been developing some entertaining stall/diversion tactics. Here's her latest:1. "I too tiiiiiny!" (When being told to eat her last 3 grapes)2. "But I just a girl!" (After the "too tiny" excuse didn't get her out of eating her grapes)3. "But I just a princesssssss!" (While protesting the rinsing of her sudsed-up hair in the tub this morning)

This was a quote from one of our aunts, upon meeting our son: "I love the name 'Baylor'! But...where did you come up with his middle name???" That sums up the majority of feedback we've gotten on our choice of names. But I mean come on- it's not like we named the kid Apple or January or something really obscure. So here's the break down of what Baylor's middle name is intended to mean and not mean:

1. "Blitz" doesn't mean the 2011 movie starring a bunch of people I've never heard of. IMDB says the film is about "A tough cop is dispatched to take down a serial killer who has been targeting police officers."

2. "Blitz" doesn't mean "Blitz" as in the 1960's beer brewed in Portland by the Weinhard brothers. I'd consider rethinking this except that Blitz beer was apparently the PBR of its time, and my son is more of a fancy craft-brewed seasonal ale kinda guy.

3. "Blitz" doesn't mean "Blitz" as in the software development firm whose website is so crappy I'd never buy something computer-related from them.

4. Most definitely, "Blitz" is NOT refering to the bombing of Britain by the Germans in WWII. No thanks.

Baylor IS named "Blitz" for the football tactic (which is actually named after the German bombing strategy). Wikipedia says this: "A blitz or red dog is when players on or behind the line of scrimmage during a play, are sent across the scrimmage line to the offensive side to try to tackle the quarterback or disrupt his pass attempt." Isn't that what ALL football plays are about? Lost on me. Anyhow, this was all Luke's idea.

About Me

Michelle:
mom to johonna. born & raised in Oregon. never been skiing. don't like to fish. never had a veggie burger. However...do enjoy coffee. equally fond of beer. married my high school sweetheart. love my dog; sing to my dog. like to bbq.
have been hit & run TWICE. (my car was hit, not me). stop for stray animals. oldest of three. love love love my family. accepted christ as my savior in 9th grade. no known allergies. have a fish pond in the backyard. increasingly sensitive to motion sickness.
Luke:
jo's daddy. loves the broncos. married michelle. lucky. doesn't know his wife wrote his blog profile for him. listens to books on cd while he drives. loyal and protecting. darn funny. loves his dog; sings to his dog. plays lots of cards. snores. oldest of seven. doesn't like olives or soy sauce. left handed. likes to sleep in. doesn't drink coffee. had his tonsils removed as a child.